Satyam and Dharmam...

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః  

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

We all know Raamaayana. It is said Sri Raama walked with two legs, one an embodiment of Satyam and the other Dharma. He did not put even one step without one of these being in place.

The one big difference between Satyam and Dharmam is that Satyam is immutable. Doesnt depend on anything. Doesnt change with anything. Whereas Dharmam is situational. It at times need not be bound by Satyam also. For example, we have heard proverbs like
 వెయ్యి అబద్ధాలు ఆడి అయిన ఒక పెళ్లి చెయ్యాలి. This does not mean that u literally lie perpetually. It basically means that its ok to lie on small things to conduct a marriage. This is Dharmam, not Satyam.

Similarly, when a parent has to be given some bad news about a son/daughter, no one speaks the truth until and unless some one is around to manage the parent. These are examples of Dharmam where it is not bound by Satyam. But predominantly, Dharmam should be bound by Satyam only. Lets touch upon couple of instances in Raamaayana where Dharmam was not bound by Satyam.

When Rama starts to leave for Forests to abide by his father’s dictum, Sumantra (minister of Dasaradha) drives Sri Rama in the chariot. Dasaradha runs after the chariot like a mad man, forgetting his stature, crying aloud asking Sri Rama not to leave. Then he shouts at Sumantra, “Sumantra! You are my minister and I am your king. You have to abide by words. Stop the chariot immediately. Do not take my son away from me.” By then the chariot would be a little distance away, but Dasaradhas words are audible to both Sumantra and Sri Rama.

Sumantra gets puzzled. He obviously can’t ignore his kings words. On the other hand he is driving Sri Rama who told him not to stop the chariot. So, with a puzzled look on his face, he again looks at Sri Rama, asking him what to do. Sri Rama tells him to continue driving the chariot.

Then Sumantra asks him, “What should I say if the king asks me why I did not heed to his words?”

Sri Rama says, “You tell him that you did not hear him because of the noise of the chariot wheels and hence could not execute his instructions.”

That obviously is not Truth. But Sri Rama abided by his Dharma to make his father abide by Satyam.


తండ్రిని సత్య వాక్ పరిపాలన యందు నిలుపుట కోసం శ్రీ రాముడు అబద్ధం చెప్పాడు, ధర్మంగా ప్రవర్తించాడు.

My Sincere and humble request is this. Kindly don't use this as an example everytime you want to lie, stating that even Sri Rama lied once. I know that all of you are not that immature, but I still wanted to convey this.

Will continue this... 

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.